SHADOWS OF DESIRE

Chapter 2: The Attack

SHADOWS OF DESIRE

Author: Brian Mutale Sampa

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Chapter 2: The Attack

His fingers dig into my arm hard enough to leave bruises that will last for days. Julian's gold eyes bore into mine, searching for lies, searching for weakness. His grip is iron.

"Answer me, Omega."

I pull away, but his hold tightens. Pain shoots up my shoulder. "Mine. You rejected me. This baby is mine, not yours."

"Everything in this building is mine." His voice drops to a whisper that cuts deeper than a shout. "Including you. Including that pup. Including every breath you take under my roof."

Before I can respond, a siren rips through the mansion. Red lights flash across every wall, every portrait, every chandelier. Emergency alarms—the kind we only hear during drills. But this is no drill.

"Rogues!" someone screams from downstairs. The voice is panicked, breathless. "East wall breached! Fifty of them! Maybe more!"

Julian's eyes shift from gold to black—his wolf surfacing, taking control. He shoves me behind his body, positioning himself between me and the door. His muscles coil like springs.

"Don't move. Don't speak. Don't even breathe loud."

The window explodes.

Wolves pour through the shattered glass—gray fur, snarling muzzles, eyes wild with bloodlust. At least six of them land on the marble floor, claws scraping, leaving deep gouges in the polished stone. Their scent is wrong. No pack markings. No loyalty. Just hunger.

Rogues.

Julian shifts mid-stride. His bones crack and reform with sounds that make my stomach turn. Black fur erupts across his skin. His wolf is massive—shoulders level with my chest, teeth longer than my fingers, eyes burning like embers. He lands on the nearest rogue and rips its throat open in one motion.

Blood sprays across the white carpet. Across my face. Warm. Metallic.

I crawl toward the elevator, pressing the button again and again. The doors slide open. A rogue grabs my ankle from behind. Its claws sink deep into my calf. Fire shoots up my leg. I feel the muscle tear.

I scream. The sound echoes off the marble walls.

Julian shifts back to human. Naked. Covered in blood—his and theirs. His chest heaves. His eyes are wild. He grabs the rogue's head with both hands and twists. The neck snaps like a dry twig. The body falls limp.

He looks at my bleeding leg. Then at my stomach. His eyes soften for just a moment—a crack in the armor.

"The pup?"

"Alive," I manage through clenched teeth.

"Can you run?"

"I can try."

He throws me over his shoulder. I bounce against his spine as he sprints down the stairwell. Three more rogues chase from above. Julian kills one with a kick to the throat—I hear the cartilage crush. Another he catches by the arm and twists until the bone pierces through the skin. The third he grabs by the scruff and throws down the center of the stairwell. It falls screaming until the sound stops with a wet crack.

We burst through the emergency exit into the underground garage. The air is cold and smells of gasoline. He shoves me into the back seat of a black SUV.

"Drive!" he orders a guard in the front. The engine roars to life.

Tires screech. The mansion behind us explodes—fire, glass, bodies. The shockwave rattles the windows. I watch the only home I have known for five years burn to ash. Flames reach toward the sky like hungry fingers.

Julian pulls pants from a duffel bag in the back. His chest drips with blood. His hands shake as he buttons his trousers. He is trying to look calm. He is failing.

"You are coming with me."

"Where?"

"My private penthouse. Across the city. Fifty floors up. No one knows about it. Not Dante. Not my father's old allies. No one."

"I will not let you take my baby."

He leans close. His breath heats my ear. His palm presses against my stomach again, feeling the twins move. They kick against his hand.

"You do not have a choice, Mia. I am claiming you tonight. Bond or no bond. Those pups stay with me. And if you try to run, I will find you. I will always find you. There is nowhere on this earth you can hide from me."